Former Biters frontman and songwriter, Tuk Smith is back in business with a new project, TUK SMITH & THE RESTLESS HEARTS and a brand new debut album, ”Ballad of A Misspent Youth”. The release marks their first music with new label MRG, founded by industry veterans Marti Frederiksen and John Greenberg and distributed worldwide by Virgin Music/Universal.
Tuk Smith & The Restless Hearts made their debut at the top of 2020 with the release of their first single, What Kinda Love. Before the pandemic hit and plans were wiped clean, the band were due to open Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard’s impending Stadium Tour.
Now, Tuk Smith & The Restless Hearts have found their way back and are ready to deliver rock and roll greatness to the masses once again.
”Ballad of A Misspent Youth” has something of Thin Lizzy, AC/DC, early Def Leppard, even some Bon Jovi when they born – this is an old-school rock ’n roll anthemic album for the new generation, and will appeal veteran classic rock fans as well for sure.
Before being professional, Tuk Smith branched out into exploring seventies New York bands like The Dead Boys and New York Dolls, which lead him across the Atlantic, where he embraced British groundbreakers like The Buzzcocks and The Clash. Soon, he was forming his own bands, touring relentlessly and building a following with his high-energy live shows, including his tour of duty as lead singer for Biters, who he fronted for nearly a decade.
But it was time to go solo – or better, create his own band.
On the opening song here – the title track as it happens – as the second verse hits, it goes “This place has got you feeling like a lost soul on parole, so get your kicks down on Reprobation Road” and whatever rock n roll is its right there. That’s it.
Tuk Smith is everything rock n’ roll should be anyway. He was in Biters. Biters were the type of band where you turn up and at the gig never having heard of them, and leave as their biggest fan. But they weren’t built to last, they were meant to go across the sky like a leather clad supernova.
Then out of Atlanta, now out of Nashville, Tuk is now the leader of The Restless Hearts, and lets stop the preamble shall we? That’s just foreplay. Let’s get down to it and say this is one of the best debut record this year.
“Ballad Of A Misspent Youth” as a whole is like a buffet, where you just pick the best music that’s ever been made and pile it on your plate. That’s evident from the get go, which I am saying is the best song The Stones never wrote, but by the time “Girls On The East Side Of Town” hits, if you’ve got a pulse then its racing.
And look, it sounds like Thin Lizzy, Tuk sings it like Phil Lynott, but so what? He knows. He knows you know too. We’re all in the gang. Let’s go.
Recorded with his old friend Dan Dixon, there’s eight moments of brilliance here. “Ain’t For The Faint” stomps, its sleazy, but it’s pure in its filth. “Everybody Loves You When You’re Dead” plays out some Mott The Hoople fantasies, and the golden age of rock n roll is here, its right here.
If all the bands I am mentioning are classic ones, then its deliberate, because that’s what TSATRH are about. He’s a music lifer, is Smith. He loved punk, then explored the bands his heroes loved. He loves Classic Rock folks. And it shows.
He “stripped away the obscure” he reckons and “focused on the greats”. The harvest of that is “Shadow On The Street” has an AC/DC vibe.
“Say Goodbye” couldn’t sound more like it belonged on US radio in 1989 if it tried. That’s cool. Bon Jovi haven’t written a song this good in decades. Tuk should send it to JBJ to remind him.
There’s still the air of a gang about this. All great music should have it. “Lovesick City” has got it. Take one on, take us all on, it suggests. The chorus, man. Fists in the air and roaring loud and proud.
And just because there’s only eight songs here, don’t make the mistake of thinking this is lacking ideas. It brims with them, “Forgive But Won’t Forget” bristles with energy, and seethes with anger. Like it’s storing it up just to hit you with it some more. And there’s a twin solo here that early Def Leppard might enjoy.
Ultimately, “Ballad Of A Misspent Youth” might as well be called “eight hymns to rock n’ roll” – whatever that stands for. You get that ‘classic rock’ vibe from this record, from this artist. It is, like he says in a line on the title track: “One for the dreamers who won’t let go”.
And if you still believe that loud music is the best thing in the world, then whatever you do, just get this.
01 - Ballad Of A Misspent Youth
02 - Girls On The East Side Of Town
03 - Ain't For the Faint
04 - Everybody Loves You When You're Dead
05 - Shadow On The Street
06 - Say Goodbye
07 - Lovesick City
08 - Forgive But Won't Forget
Tuk Smith and The Restless Hearts – Ballad Of A Misspent Youth 2022
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